I apologize for how long it's been since I've posted. There have definitely been things to write about, I've just been lazy on my precious weekends or I've been traveling for work.
First, as the title says, Noir. has joined the Mercenary Coalition alliance. I can't say I'm well informed about the decision; after stepping down from Noir. Academy I'm not privy to the leadership discussions any more. I suspect it's because Alek, who also has been working a ton (we both work at the same place since March), has had less and less time to manage an alliance and didn't want to do things half-way. We had a small Australian corporation that was in the No Not Believing alliance leave, and rather than continue to try and build, it was far easier to join Mercenary Coalition, who holds very similar ideals to Noir.
In fact, Alek had originally tried to join MC years ago when Tortuga was trying to become a thing. It may have taken many, many years, but that dream is now realized.
As for myself, I'm ambivalent about it. I've always respected Mercenary Coalition and its history, of course, but I'm also not a huge fan of being a regular grunt, at least in theory. We'll see how it goes. I am excited to see what happens in the future. I feel like I say that in every post, "I'm excited to see what the future brings." Sometimes I wonder when that future will come.
I know there's a lot of complaining on the EVE Reddit right now (although isn't there always?), and I feel there are some good points on both sides of the arguments, even if they're buried deep down under layers of shitpost and vitriol. If you've read my blog for very long, you'll know that I'm ever the optimist. I have hope that CCP can work these things out, but I wonder if the playerbase will even let them. Sometimes I feel like people are hoping for EVE to fail so they can feel smug for a while.
In any case, I do feel confident that there will be a fun, enjoyable nullsec solution one day. I hope it's sooner rather than later, and I also feel that its arrival will bring more playtime for me and more contracts for MC. Just as before, the less people are willing or excited about taking sovereignty, the less people are going to ask for help.
If that day comes, Mercenary Coalition will be there. I don't think MC will ever return to its former glory, PL fills that hole these days, but I do think that Mercenary Coalition will be known as the hardest hitting, most efficient, most reliable merenary name in the game. Besides, I want dozens of contracts a year, not one or two like PL has (on a good year).
Anyway, here's to the future.